Lock Down
by Justine123
Summary: Completed One-Shot. Warren Bauer is out for blood. I own nothing except the idea of this story.


Lock Down

He was out for blood. He became a vigilante, seeking payment for his son's death. Dam anyone who got in his way. His son was not the monster she claimed him to be. He was not the abusive type; he had potential, he had greatness. Now, no one will ever know.

The hospital was at its usual bustling pace; nurses checking charts, doctors weaving in and out of exam rooms and sick patients. It was normal. Dr. Steven Weber was discussing a patient's vitals with Epiphany, never once glancing in Warren Bauer's direction. Charts of newly emitted patients that have yet to be signed off on and filed are sprawled on the front desk. He was only looking for one in particular; _Kristina Davis_. He heard about her little accident and decided this was his chance. If luck was on his side today, her mother would be visiting; he could kill two bitches with one bullet, so-to-speak. Her chart wasn't here. But one, Ethan Lovett had been admitted, second floor, room 266

The elevator dings as the doors slide open. He searches the halls; 201, 220, 226 … at last 266. He smiles politely as a nurse passes by. His hands begin to quiver and he shoves them in his pockets. He refuses to be a coward. He will do this. Maya Ward is perched on the bed, her face tightened in grimace as she talks. She smiles, pats the patients hand and gathers up the discarded gauze and needles left on the tray and finds her way out of the room. He ducks behind a wall leading into another hallway and waits for her to get into the elevator. When the coast is clear he cracks the door to room 266 and peeks in. The body covered in a thin blanket is not Ethan Lovett, nor is it Kristina Davis. It's a woman in her late 40's, asleep with the only noise being the steady rhythm of the heart monitor. He growls and becomes increasingly more agitated. _'Is anyone in this hospital competent?' _

He scours the second floor, peeking into every room, sweat forming on his brow and upper lip. He's loosing it, quickly. His heart pounds wildly as he presses 3 on the elevator. He steps out, growls as he reads the sign hanging above the nurses station, "Maternity, OB". He turns and taps the 'up' arrow on the elevator repeatedly. Willing the whir of the gigantic machine to go faster, become louder. The elevator doors part and four couples make their way out, along with a staff of doctors and nurses. He grunts in dislike and pushes rudely into the crowd and presses 4 on the elevator's switch board. _'Can't this fucking thing go any faster? Everything in this hospital is incapable of doing its job.' _His foots taps the floor in quick succession. His hands are soaked with sweat. He uses the sleeve of his coat to wipe his face. He waits as the doors open once more. He squeezes past the opening with a growl and continues his search. The floor is empty; except for a few nurses roaming the halls. They smile politely in passing. He ignores them now. _'Vengeance, blood, death. That's what I am here for dam it! Not making friends with the whole dam hospital.'_ He continues his brisk walk around the 4th floor and stops short when he sees Kristina and Ethan at the end of a long hallway. Ethan has blue scrubs on and his arm is bandaged up to his elbow with gauze. Kristina holds a bag of what he assumes to be his bloody clothing. He slowly ascends on the pair. They're not touching, but they're close enough. A silent alarm goes off at the nurse's station, a CODE BLUE. They rush to the far end of the fourth floor grabbing a crash cart as they go. Shorty thereafter, A CODE PINK and a CODE ORANGE are announced over the intercom; Dr. Steven Weber's voice can be heard. "Attention staff, an infant has been abducted, lockdown procedures are in affect." Warren Bauer then reaches into his coat pocket, running a finger along the cold metal of the pistol that is housed there. His pace quickens as he makes his way down the hall. His hand grabs the gun and begins to pull it from the coat pocket. With the barrel pointed between the two, his legs go faster, sweat drips from his brow. The hand begins to shake, "I will kill you, you bitch. You will pay for what you've done." The frantic voice catches Kristina's attention. Her eyes grow wide and she stares down the barrel of the gun. There's nowhere to run, no room to duck into. Sirens and lights are flashing, the lockdown is complete. No one in or out. They're stuck. The trigger is pulled, the loud crack of the bullet escaping sounds like a firecracker. There's a whoosh of air and Kristina expects to feel the rip of skin, the warm sensation of blood running down her body somewhere. It never comes. Instead she reaches her arms out in slow motion, catching Ethan's falling body. Her eyes glancing at the gunman, his face full of shock and guilt. She knows the bullet was meant for her_. 'No, this isn't supposed to happen. She's supposed to die. Why did he do it? Why did he have to play hero?'_ Warren Bauer crumples to his knees, the gun bounces to a halt on the tile. His hands cover his face.

Kristina looks down at Ethan, turning his body over in her arms. She puts his head in her lap and brushes the hair from his face. All he came in for was stitches. They were heading to Kelly's for lunch. One minute she asked about him and Maya and the next he's silent, bleeding out. She comes out of her fog and roams his body for a bullet wound. Blood pools underneath her and she sits him up and supports his torso as best she can, the blood seeps from his shoulder. He groans suddenly. "Ethan?" Her voice is unsure, hopeful." He turns his head and smiles weakly at her. "Ethan, you're loosing a lot of blood. I'm going to put you against the wall and go look for something to try and stop it." He nods his head and winces slightly as she rests him against the nearby wall. "I don't want to leave you here alone with him." She's confident, calm, but still unwilling."

"Go. I'll be fine." He gives her hand a firm squeeze and she heads to the nurses station. She rummages around the metal stock shelves and finds tweezers, gloves, blue dressing cloth, scissors, saline, irrigation syringes, tons of gauze and tape and even an extra pillow. She stuffs all the equipment in an empty plastic organizer and heads back to Ethan, careful of stepping near Mr. Bauer. She removes the pillow from under her arm and places it in Ethan's lap. "I have to cut your shirt off. It will be easier than trying to pull it off you."

"Have you done this before?" She quirks,

"What? Undressing someone?" and their laughs are nervous, but they calm each other. He tries a different approach,

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"Sort of. I have to get your shirt off, but because of where the bullet is, it will be even more painful if you lift your arms over your head. So, I'll use the scissors to cut a line down the back." He nods, and points to the pillow,

"What's this for?" She shrugs shyly.

"Comfort? You'll have to lean forward for a while so the pillow gives some added padding to your legs."

"Ok, what else?"

"Well, I need the tweezers to pull out the bullet, the rubber tips are wide enough to grasp an end, but blunt enough so it won't poke the tissue surrounding the wound. Before I do that, I'll use the saline to irrigate the area so I can see if the bullet is close enough to the surface to even pull it out without causing more damage."

"If the bullet isn't close enough?" Her explanations are distracting him from the pain, from the fear. Before she continues, Warren starts to babble out loud, "No, no. This wasn't the plan, he was a good kid, and he was a Bauer. He had potential, he had greatness, and he had everything." Over and over again he chants this mantra. Kristina tries her best to ignore him.

"If the bullet isn't close enough the surface, I'll tie a piece of gauze around the top of your shoulder like a tourniquet, stopping most of the blood flow to the area. Hopefully the built up pressure will force the bullet to reach the surface of the wound." She takes his left hand, the injured side of his body and folds it close to his chest. "I'm sorry in advance; this is going to hurt, a lot. But if I don't do something you'll bleed out." A sob cuts her off and she wipes her face of the tears and smiles at him, her eyes still glistening. Ethan places his free hand against her cheek.

"If it weren't for you, I'd be here alone, with no hope."

"If it weren't for me, you'd be out of the hospital by now. We both know he was aiming for me." Warren continues his babbling, his eyes blood shot, his hands tightly wound in his hair, pulling at his scalp. Yes, Warren Bauer finally fell off the deep end. Spit and tears create tiny droplets around him as he continues to ramble on and on in nonsense. "He was a good kid. He didn't deserve this. He shouldn't have hit her. He shouldn't have hit her, he shouldn't have hit her." He faces the truth. More nonsense spews from his lips, more puddles form around him.

Her heart aches for Mr. Bauer, but it hurts more for Ethan. She dons the gloves and picks up the scissors and a tremor takes her hand violently. She shakes it out and reaches for the hem of his shirt and begins to cut. The tremor comes once more, but she stops, takes a deep breath and thinks of the alternative; Ethan, bleeding out, Ethan dead. She breaths and pulls the fabric apart; it lays silently against his sides.

Ethan's breath hiccups slightly, "Sorry love."

"It's ok, I can wait if you want."

"No, do what you have too. I'm ok. I trust you." Kristina removes the cap and pokes the sharp needle of the irrigation syringe into the bottle of saline. She pulls the plunger up and fills the barrel half way. She then places the blue dressing cloth around the wound and tells Ethan that it will sting. She pushes the plunger down and the liquid swishes around the bulb encasing the needle and eventually descends on the wound, flushing the bright crimson blood away from the wound and down the blue cloth. She allows Ethan to pull away slightly and holds the syringe in place, releasing her hold on the plunger. He hisses out a stream of curses and the continuing rambling of Warren Bauer just aggravates him more. He turns to the disheveled man, "Can you shut up for two bloody seconds?" But his question falls on deaf ears and Mr. Bauer starts to rock on his knees, "He shouldn't have done it. He shouldn't have beaten her, He shouldn't have beaten her."

Ethan leans back toward Kristina once again, "Sorry love. Keep going." She kisses the side of his face and rubs a thumb across his cheek and few times before returning to her previous task. She ties a rope of gauze around the top of his shoulder and ties it as tightly as she can. He grunts in discomfort but settles quickly. More blood pools around the wide bullet hole, but Kristina can see a flash of gold through the river of red. She cuts a square piece of gauze and soaks up the extra blood and irrigates the area once more. The blood has dramatically lessened and she grabs the tweezers and reaches out for the gold piece lodged in his shoulder. With the rubber tip poised on either side she begins to let go and grip the bullet with the tweezers. So intent on her task she fails to see Warren reach for the gun once more. Tears escape and run down his face. He's no longer talking just sobbing. He turns off the safety and another gunshot rings out in the hallway.

Kristina jumps and Ethan winces at the tweezers miss their mark and dig into the ruptured tissue. "Oh god Ethan, I'm so sorry. Are you ok" He nods and she gives him a once over and then slowly she turns her gaze over to see blood pooling around Warren's slumped body. A gaping hole graces his temple. A sob catches her in her throat and the tears blur her vision and she waits a few minutes. Her head falls against Ethan's good shoulder and they both sit there, wondering how they got into this mess and if they will ever get out of it.

She composes herself and positions the tweezers over the bullet. The rubber tips grab a hold of the gold end and she gently pulls the slug from his shoulder. She holds her breath to see if anything had torn and when the bleeding is still minimal, she releases a breath. "You ok Ethan?"

"I've been better."

"Yea, you've looked better too."

"You're funny." His voice is laced in sarcasm, albeit a bit tired sounding. Kristina continues to bandage his shoulder and leaves the tourniquet wrapped around his shoulder; she does loosen it a bit.

Ethan leans back against Kristina, his breath is even and his eyes flutter closed. "Oh no, no. You can't fall asleep on me now."

"I'm tired."

"You can't sleep until you see a doctor."

"Seems you did a pretty good job."

"Still, I have to make sure you stay conscious. So, talk to me."

"About what?" He snuggles his head under her chin.

"Fine. I'll tell you a story."

"Make it a good one."

_ "Once upon a time, there was a young princess riding in the forest. She knew the forest was a dangerous place at night; _"Then why is she out there, alone?" "Quiet Ethan, I'm trying to tell a story."_ but she loved the peacefulness and the way the stars light up the sky like a thousand specs of glitter on navy paper. The princess' horse rustled the leaves lying at their feet; the crunch was the only thing she heard. The moon was a brilliant white and full. Not a cloud in the sky, it was perfect. The princess then heard a groan nearby and she glanced around, but all she saw was darkness. She heard the groan again, louder this time. She tried to follow the sound and her horse stumbled back, as if she was about to step on something. The princess dropped down from her perch on the horses back. She used her foot to feel around and came upon a body. The man let out another groan. His accent was thick and lovely. "Do you mind taking your foot off my crouch." The princess pulled her foot back hastily and let out a small giggle, "Sorry sir. Are you hurt? I mean aside from your um, man business." _

"_Nope, I just like to lay in a pile of dirty leaves and groan in pain in hopes of a pretty girl passing by in the middle of the night will hear me and we can run off together and get married." _

"_I'm sensing some sarcasm in this little theory of yours."_

"_You think love?"_

"_Never mind then. What seems to be the problem?" The princess then kneels next to the man and tilts his head towards the glow of the moon and gasps when his face comes into view. "You're King Spencer's son. You're Luke, the prince that has come back from the crusades."_

"_Yes well, now that you know who I am. Would you care to introduce yourself?" _

"_Oh yes, how rude of me. My name is Adela. The daughter of-"_

"_Ah, King Michael." _

"_Yea, apparently our fathers are quite close." _

"_It appears that way." _

"_Well, what hurts?"_

"_My ankle. My horse decided to flip out and threw me off the saddle. He ran off to add insult to injury." The princess went in search of fallen branches and long sturdy weeds to form a brace on the young prince's leg. Once the leg was secured, Luke was able to use his good leg to hoist himself on the princess' horse and Adela soon followed suit and situated herself behind Luke and together they rode towards his castle._

"_Thank you for fining me, Adela."_

"_You're very welcome Luke." _

"_Would it be to forward of me to ask you to marry me?"_

"_Not at all." _

"_Marry me Princess Adela." _

"_Yes." And the two of them lived happily ever after. _

Kristina kept her hold on Ethan as he turned in her embrace. He slowly rests his hand on her wet cheek and runs his thumb across her lips. "Kiss me love." She leans in and their lips are soft against each other and within seconds, their tongues caress one another's and the kiss is slow and sweet. So lost in the sensation, neither one notices the flashing of lights have stopped nor that the alarm has quieted. It isn't until they hear the gasp of a nurse that they pull away shyly. But the nurse isn't looking at them, rather gawking at Warren's lifeless body. Another nurse comes to kneel before them. "Are you two ok." They nod and the nurse takes in the discarded supplies and bloody cloths littering the floor. She guides the pair to an open room and Kristina gets lost in the sudden wave of doctors and nurses coming back to life. She lets go of Ethan's hand and sees herself out of the room.

A nurse follows minutes later. "Nice job. The doctors will have him stitched up and I'll come back to let you in, in a few minutes." The nurse was obviously very proud of Kristina, even a little surprised. They had heard the gunshots in the hallway. All were itching to escape and help. Turns out, Kristina didn't need any.

"Thank you." She watches the woman duck back into Ethan's room. A swarm of police officers rush down the hallway, Dr. Weber close on their tail. Questions fly at her as orders are being given, "What happened? Was anyone hurt? Do you know this man? Are you ok?" Dr. Weber is able to break up the chaos, Kristina gives her statement calmly and with one final look, she watches as the body bag is zipped and carried away. The doors open and both Dr. Weber and Kristina walk over to Ethan's bed. He's shirtless and sitting up. Kristina reaches for his hand, hoping he doesn't regret the kiss before and he grips her hand entirely and winks at her. "Well, he's stitched up and I have him on a course of antibiotics just in case of infection. Other than that, you'll be good. You can go home within a few days. A nurse will come in to redress your arm and your shoulder within the hour." Steven turns to Kristina, "You did a great job taking care of him. He would be a lot worse off if you weren't there."

"Yea." She sits on the side of the bed still holding Ethan's hand and Dr. Weber signs his chart and heads for the nurses station, the door clicking softly behind him.


End file.
